April 30, 2008

BCS officials reject playoff proposal: Bowl Championship Series officials rejected a plan Wednesday to turn the much-criticized system for deciding a national champ into a four-team playoff. The BCS format will remain the same until at least the 2014 season.

This despite the ESPN straw poll that indicated 70% in favor of an 8 or 16 team playoff series. The BCS officials won't listen to us, so let's quit listening to them. Turn off the TV when the bowl games are on. Don't patronize the companies that sponsor the bowls. Even a fraction of a percent dropoff in sales and viewers will be noticed.

That's the idea solution howard and I agree with you that boycotting the BCS could help force a playoff but I'll be honest and say that I will still watch Michigan in a bowl game as well as the BCS games.

A boycott will never happen. Too many 'Muricans love football too much to ever do that (why do you think the Detroit Lions continue to sell out their home games?). The BCS knows this, which is why its immovable. You'll watch. I'll watch. Case closed.

If the BCS knows this, Afl, why did they even float the proposal of this plus-one playoff? Here in Jacksonville, the ACC Championship was such a dud attendance-wise it moved away, and the Gator Bowl had plenty of empty seats in spite of a good Texas Tech-Boston College matchup. I think the non-BCS bowls are hurting, and I expect that we'll eventually get a real playoff. It just may take 20 years longer than it should've taken.

If the BCS knows this, Afl, why did they even float the proposal of this plus-one playoff? Testing the waters, I suspect. There's been such a clamor for some kind of playoff system that it was inevitable that the BCS would at least dip its toe in to see the reaction. However, I agree that, eventually, a playoff will emerge. I'll probably be too old to care or dead by that point.

They also knew that as it was presented it had no chance of any serious consideration. There will have to be some pretty serious non-biased, non-converence specific oversight before this gets anywhere. In which case, yeah, anyone reading this will probably be dead of old age or too senile to remember.

They will eventually cave in as long as their are situations like Boise State, Georgia, and Hawaii that come up just about every year. The public outcry will be too much for them to ignore any longer. We all know they can come up with an 8 or 16 team playoff system using the bowl games they have now. It might have to be a revolving type thing like they have now but that isn't so bad. The bottom line is $$$$$$$$$$. They have to figure out a way where they can make even more of it with a playoff system. When they do, the system will change.

I like the idea of a playoff game, but I completely understand why schools would not support it. Currently, each regular season game is a huge deal, getting lots of attention (and $$). Many times they are a make or break for a national championship type game. If you put in a system that gives teams a chance to win a national championship even though they lose a game here and there, all the money that was going to the schools for these huge regular season games shrinks.

They will eventually cave in as long as their are situations like Boise State, Georgia, and Hawaii that come up just about every year. The public outcry will be too much for them to ignore any longer. Players too. I Imagine there are seniors and drafted players that wish they had a chance at the big game. There is no "next year" for them.

If you put in a system that gives teams a chance to win a national championship even though they lose a game here and there, all the money that was going to the schools for these huge regular season games shrinks. Didn't LSU lose a game this past year?

It's unfortunate that the FBS system continues to be a popularity contest and by extension a sham. I quit actively following I-A college football years ago, opting for I-AA (FCS). With the crew of FCS teams that come in and beat FBS teams every year (Appalachian State, New Hampshire) I don't really miss the FBS. FCS has a real championship for a legitimate champion, and a lot of lesser-known schools that field good teams with a lot of heart.

I read some more about this vote today. Does it feel to anyone else that the BCS has become its own conference and left the non-BCS conferences in the dust? They don't even matter anymore -- the biggest conferences are now deciding the postseason structure without even consulting them.

You'll watch. I'll watch. Case closed. You and YYM are right, afl-aba. I'll reluctantly watch the games, but I can still try to keep away from the products (which isn't going to be easy, since I own stock in Pepsi). Alas, like the professional leagues, they have us by the short hairs. sigh...do you think there could be some movement on this before Joe Paterno retires? We are Penn State!!!

i say leave it like it is , i like multible teams thinking they are national champs. in my mind my team PENN STATE were national champs a couple of times though not crowned - it fun to leave it up to debate

I'm very shocked by this decision, psych. Unless there is a playoff Ohio State and some other team are going to be in the championship game. What is certain though is that they will probably get beat down again. There is never going to be a true champion unless a playoff is in place.

Yes, we all know a playoff would be better. But why? Fairer? More accurate? Let's ponder for a second... NCAA Basketball uses a playoff. It's fairer because the team that wins deserves it because they won every game. However, is it more accurate? Not necessarily! If you look at the at the winners from NCAA bball and football, you'll likely find a more stable list of winners in football than in bball. Villanova, etc. are not teams that likely were the best in the season they prevailed.

eventually all of these old college presidents will die off and a new generation will take over and finally give us what we want. a college football playoff could be as big as the ncaa hoops tournament, but these old farts have their heads so far up their ass they don't realize it.

However, is it more accurate? Not necessarily! If you look at the at the winners from NCAA bball and football, you'll likely find a more stable list of winners in football than in bball. That is true. Generally the football champion is deserving of their championship, with the controversy coming from those teams that didn't make the championship game. However, if you take the top eight teams in the nation there isn't going to be much disparity between them. If there is then the top team should win outright anyways. Plus, remembering what a playoff bracket during this past bowl season would have looked like, the playoffs would have been much more exciting then the actual bowls.